Wedding Magic in the Catskill Mountains

It’s our opinion that the best design is often one that tells a real story. So here is the story of a wedding that took place in the Hudson Valley last weekend, for which we were doubly fortunate to design the invitation suite, and also to attend.

The wedding was a union between two men who both led dynamic lives in Manhattan, but who had found their Eden together in Upstate New York — and therefore chose as a venue an amazing old house (with its own stories: it was built for the Hellmann mayonnaise mogul in the 30’s) perched high in the Catskill Mountains.

The inspiration: sugar maples in the region are of national renown, so hand drawn leaves provided us with a design motif. The orange card stock anticipated the golden colors that, we hoped, would be peaking when the wedding took place at the end of October (our luck held, the photo at top was taken on the day). And, naturally, the font was in chocolate brown, the navy blue of chic weddings.

The design elements: leaves tumbled romantically in different configurations, from the invitations to the place cards, to the dancing, monogrammed pair on the menu cards (just visible tucked into the napkins, above). The program (positioned in one of floral arrangements, top right) featured a photograph taken by one of the grooms of the Hudson Valley landmark, Kaaterskill Falls. Table cards (above) further enhanced the feeling of place: each was named after a local town or site.

The flowers: a rich palette of reds and greens were found in elaborate centerpieces to do Carolyn Roehm proud, but also in exquisite miniature in corsages for the wedding party (above, left). And we marveled at the unexpected textures of yellow autumn leaves and blush-pink lilies in a giant bouquet (above right).

Food, friends, drinks, dancing and laughter … So ends our story of a magical time in the mountains.